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Scripture Reading: Rom. 7:17-24; 8:1-6, 13-16, 23
In human beings there is a law of trying to do good. This law is in our mind. There is a war going on against this law by the law of sin. This war takes place in our members.
The Chinese saints will be familiar with the classical writing on The War between the Principle and the Lust. Centuries ago Chinese scholars realized that within man there was a principle and a lust, struggling against each other. They saw that principle was in man’s mind, his psychological part, and that lust was in his body. Thus, they advocated asceticism, the ill-treatment of the body, as a means of dealing with lust. Asceticism was to help the principle in man’s soul defeat the lust in his body. This conflict was the war between the principle and the lust.
When I was quite young, I studied these writings. After I got saved and came across Romans 7, I found that Paul said the same thing. He described the war being waged between the law of good in his mind and the law of sin in his members. The law of good is what the Chinese scholars called the principle. Paul also referred to the law of sin as the evil (vv. 21, 23). Evil is close in meaning to lust, the word the Chinese scholars used. Paul had the same experience, then, as is described in the Chinese ethical writings.
Paul’s experience, however, did not end with Romans 7. In Romans 8 there is something far higher than what the Chinese scholars saw. They never experienced the processed Triune God becoming the Spirit to indwell them.
When I preached the gospel to some disciples of Confucius, some were convinced. I pointed them to Romans 8:1: “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation! Now it is blessed man, not wretched man! Then I read verse 2 to them: “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.”
“What you call principle,” I told them, “the Bible calls law. Here is another principle — the law of the Spirit of life. Are you familiar with this principle? You know lust. You know evil. But the Spirit and life you do not know. The law of the Spirit of life is in Christ Jesus, not in Confucius. Confucius has been dead and buried for centuries. How could you be in him? But we who believe in Christ are in Him. We not only have Christ; we are in Him. This law of the Spirit of life has freed us from the law of sin and of death.”
This is the war and the freedom mentioned in the title of this chapter. The war is between the law of good in our mind and the law of sin in our members. The freedom is from the law of sin and of death, and it is by the law of the Spirit of life. The freedom we are talking about here is not American freedom; it is not a result of Jefferson’s teachings. It is freedom from the law of sin and of death, and it comes about by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
What we are covering here is momentous. In the Far East the ethical teachings of Confucius have controlled people for centuries. His teachings prevailed not only in China but in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam as well. In India the people are under the evil influence of Hinduism. Then there is also the widespread influence of Islam. In the Western world the influence of the Hebrew religion is dominant. This latter is better than the others. It teaches not only ethics and morality but about God as well.
The effect of these teachings is that in the Far East the people have been encouraged to develop their will to practice ethics and conquer lust. Many to some extent were successful and are strong-willed and proud. In the Western world people try to live morally and virtuously. In addition, many pray to ask for God’s help. To some extent, because of their fear of God and worship of Him, He has granted some blessing to them. Even the unbelievers in the Western world are under the moral teachings of the Bible. Without Confucius’s ethics the Oriental peoples might be wild; without the Hebrew religion the Westerners might be barbaric. For the most part, both Easterners and Westerners give an outward impression of culture and refinement, even though within they are sinful. We may liken them to the scribes and Pharisees in the Lord’s time. The Lord Jesus saw through their appearance of refinement and religious performance and knew that the poison of the snake was in them. Whatever influence fallen man is under, this is his real inward condition.
Many influences play upon us. They differ according to the background we have come from, but their effect is to hinder us from seeing clearly. These influences become layers, blocking our view. Suppose we are wearing green-tinted glasses. We may look at something white, but it will seem green to us. We can still see the object, but not its genuine color. This is the problem when we read the Bible. We may read it day after day, but we are wearing tinted glasses. This is why Paul prayed that we might have a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17).
Generally speaking, all peoples are controlled by ethical influences. The religious ones add to this the matter of their relationship to God. They want to please Him by their worship and service. They want to change others so that they will be better behaved. Missionaries want to spread the kingdom of God. There are organizations to win young people and campaigns to win countries for Christ.
Is this effort to bring others into the kingdom of God to be condemned? Is it not good to win others to Christ? It is good, but by itself it is not in the central lane of God’s revelation. Paul had a stewardship to complete the word of God (Col. 1:25). Without his ministry the Bible would still be God’s wonderful revelation, but it would be incomplete. It was left to Paul, and Paul alone, to tell us that the church is the Body of Christ, that Christ is the mystery of God (2:2), that the church is the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4-6), and that Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20).
Do you treasure Paul’s writings? Peter does not tell us that Christ lives in us. The highest word from him is that we are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Many New Testaments are printed that include the Psalms. In the Far East the Chinese have printed a New Testament including Proverbs. The Westerners like Psalms; the Orientals, Proverbs. What about the central lane of God’s revelation?
You young people do not realize the influences you are under. Have you ever resolved that you will be the number-one Christian? that you will never again lose your temper? that you will pray and read the Word every day? that you will be kind and pleasant to others? that you will do your duties in an exemplary way? Such resolves are ethical, moral, religious, virtuous, pious, devotional, even “spiritual.”
God wants you to realize that He is the tree of life. He wants you to receive Him. He wants to plant Himself into you, to grow together with you, so that you may grow Him, express Him, and live Him. Your virtues, such as love and kindness, were created by God in the form of His virtues. Your human virtues are gloves to contain God’s virtues. It is not God’s intention for you to have empty gloves!
God’s desire was to enter into you. His enemy, however, had a counterplot. Before God entered into man, Satan did. The other tree was planted in mankind. All the descendants of Adam, whoever they may be, have this second tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, growing in them. This is what accounts for the ruined, evil condition of the world today. When this tree entered into man, it became a law, the law of sin. All worldly people are living according to this law.
Four thousand years after this law began operating in fallen man, Christ came. God Himself was thus planted in man. Christ went to the cross. Then through His resurrection He brought us into Himself. Now another tree, the tree of life, has been planted in us. Another law is now operating in us, the law of the Spirit of life.
Are we under the influence of this law? Too many of us in the Lord’s recovery still live according to ethics, morality, piety, religion, or “spirituality.”
Many people are still trying to keep the Mosaic law. The children of Israel have tried in vain to live by it. The Catholic Church charges its members to keep the Ten Commandments. They practice reciting them, as do some Protestant denominations.
The New Testament teachings are often neglected or misapplied. In Romans 8, verse 2 is neglected, and verse 39 about God’s inseparable love is picked up. Verse 28, about all things working together for good, is another favorite.
“The law of the Spirit of life” — this is a strange language! Your vocabulary does not have the Spirit. If it does, you think it refers to tongue-speaking or other miraculous things. When I was in Waco, Texas, some twenty years ago, a friend told me that he had seen heavenly gold descending to fill his tooth; he could even smell the metal. I said that what he was saying was a lie; I did not believe him. “If God can fill your tooth with heavenly gold,” I asked him, “why wouldn’t He just restore the tooth?” Many Pentecostal testimonies are lies. The Bible does record miracles, but not one case of leg lengthening is mentioned. Tongue-speaking in the Bible refers to speaking another language; it is not the three or four syllables of today’s speakers in tongues. No language is made up of that limited number of sounds. The understanding of the Spirit among today’s Christians is too poor. Nor do they know what life is. If there is excitement, shouting, or jumping, they think the meeting is full of life. How full of life a ball game is then!
May the Lord have mercy upon us. I am not speaking critically. I beg all of you who read this chapter: unload. Unload yourselves of all your old appreciations and old understandings. As the Lord Jesus said, “Turn and become like little children” (Matt. 18:3).
Now that we are saved and regenerated, the Triune God is dwelling in our spirit. There is no need for us to determine to be loving or kind or humble. We need not resolve to be the best husband or wife. These are ethical, religious, even “scriptural” aspirations. Listen to Romans 8:2-4: “The law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death. For that which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit.”
Verse 3 says that God condemned sin. Condemned means “overcame, subdued, conquered, deprived of its power.” This is what God did concerning sin. Sin includes Satan and the law of sin. God sent His own Son “concerning sin”; this was because of His enemy Satan getting into man. The word that at the beginning of verse 4 is a strong word; what follows is the consequence or issue of God’s condemning sin in the flesh. Because God has deprived sin of its power, the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us. God has not asked us to keep the law; we cannot keep it. The airline does not ask us to fly to New York; it would be beyond our power to do so. What we do is buy our ticket, get the boarding pass, get on the plane, and sit in our seat. Then the flight is fulfilled in us. After five hours’ rest, we will be in New York. Just as the airline does not expect us to fly, so God does not expect us to keep the law. The righteous requirement will be fulfilled, not kept, “in us.” Who is the “us”? It is those who do not walk according to flesh but according to spirit. What does it mean to walk according to spirit? It means that, instead of trying to love others or be humble or be “spiritual,” we have regard only for the indwelling Spirit. The Triune God has been processed through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection. Today He is the life-giving Spirit within my spirit. I am one spirit with Him, and He is one spirit with me (1 Cor. 6:17). This is my only concern. Whatever I am doing or saying, I have my being according to this Spirit. If we walk this way, the righteous requirement of the law will be fulfilled in us. This is not to say that we will keep the law. How will this righteous requirement be fulfilled? It will be fulfilled not by us but in us, by the law of the Spirit of life.
After reading this chapter, will you pray like this? “Lord, thank You for such a word. You know how weak I am. I need Your help. Grant that I may be able to live according to what the chapter says.” Do not pray like this. Then what should you do? Be at rest. To activate the law of the Spirit of life, all you need to do is turn on the switch. Romans 8 says,
(1) Walk according to the spirit (v. 4).
(2) Set the mind on the spirit (v. 6).
(3) Put to death the practices of the body (v. 13).
(4) Be led by the Spirit as sons of God (v. 14).
(5) Cry, Abba, Father! (v. 15). When you cry, the indwelling Spirit cries with you (Gal. 4:6).
(6) Witness (Rom. 8:16). When you witness, the Spirit witnesses with you.
(7) Groan for full sonship, the redemption of your body (v. 23). Say, “Lord, I praise You that today You are the firstfruits for my enjoyment. Yet my body is old. I need full sonship. My body needs to be ‘sonized.’ Not only so, Lord, look upon my brothers in the denominations. Consider their situation.”
If we practice these seven things all day long, we will find that the righteous requirement of the law will spontaneously be fulfilled in us. God will rescue us and answer our cry: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (7:24). Who? The law of the Spirit of life will free us from our wretched condition if we fulfill the requirements we have just mentioned.
We need both the realization and the practice. Then we will experience the freedom from the law of sin and of death by the law of the Spirit of life.
